How Wine Hoaxes Happen

As Rudy Kurniawan faces an indictment on four counts of mail and wire fraud, New York magazine recaps "the biggest wine hoax in history" and explains how it all came about: "Guests at tastings don’t want to bite the hand that quenches them. Auctioneers may not want to risk losing consignments by nitpicking ambiguous bottles. Winemakers don’t like to talk about counterfeiting, for fear of the taint. Also, one thing not high on the FBI’s list of investigative priorities: billionaires getting snowed by wine forgers." [NYM]